Managing Different Brains

AFTER COMPLETING THIS COURSE, YOU'LL BE ABLE TO:

• Recognize when communication breakdowns are rooted in differences in processing, expectations, or sensory needs, not attitude or performance
• Adjust how you give instructions, feedback, and direction so staff are more likely to understand and follow through
• Respond more effectively when staff seem overwhelmed, disengaged, blunt, inconsistent, or hard to read
• Navigate conflict between employees when differences in communication or work style are part of the issue
• Build a clearer, more flexible management approach that supports different working styles while maintaining expectations
• Understand how your own communication style, stress responses, and preferences affect the way you lead

If you are someone who:

• Is managing staff who need different levels of direction, clarity, or support to do their best work
• Feels like you are constantly adjusting your communication but still missing the mark with some employees
• Has dealt with team tension where no one is technically “wrong,” but things are still not working
• Wants to be a supportive manager without lowering expectations or over-accommodating in ways that are not sustainable
• Is a neurodivergent manager trying to better understand your own needs, strengths, and leadership style

This course will give you a clearer way to approach your team.

This course is especially helpful for:

• Library directors managing staff with a wide range of working and communication styles
• Department heads navigating team conflict, feedback conversations, and day-to-day supervision
• Branch managers trying to build a more supportive workplace culture while balancing service demands
• Supervisors who want better tools for understanding and supporting neurodivergent employees
• Neurodivergent managers who want to better understand their own needs, strengths, and leadership approach

If you lead people in a library and want to manage with more clarity, flexibility, and confidence, you will see yourself in this course.

Course Introduction | 2:00–2:10 pm ET

An overview of the course goals, structure, and what to expect from the live sessions.

Session 1 | 2:10–3:00 pm ET
Different Brains, Same Team: Strategies to Support Library Staff

In this session, you’ll explore what it actually looks like to manage neurodivergent library staff day to day, especially when differences in communication, processing styles, or sensory needs create tension between coworkers. You’ll learn practical ways to coach through misunderstandings, navigate conflict, and build stronger working relationships. Drawing on real experiences from neurodivergent library staff, this session focuses on clear communication and management approaches that help teams work better together while respecting individual differences.

Break | 3:00–3:10 pm ET

Session 2 | 3:10–4:00 pm ET
Supporting Others Starts with You: Making Sense of Your Own Brain as a Leader

Effective leadership starts with understanding yourself. This session helps you reflect on your own working style and support needs as a manager. You’ll learn how greater self-awareness can improve communication, strengthen decision-making, and help you lead in ways that actually work for you while supporting your team more effectively.

Dr. Courtney Tsahalis, Director, Millbrook Library

Dr. Courtney Tsahalis is a public library director with over fifteen years of experience in public libraries and a deep passion for library science and community engagement. She earned her PhD in Information Studies from Dominican University in 2025, with research focused on the intersection of public library accommodations and neurodiversity.

She has presented her work at numerous state and national conferences, including NYLA and ALA’s LibLearnX, sharing insights on inclusive library practices and the experiences of neurodivergent individuals. In addition to teaching MLIS courses, she provides professional development opportunities for library staff on topics such as accessibility, inclusion, and neurodiversity.

Managing neurodiversity on a team is not just about being understanding. It affects how you give feedback, how you set expectations, how you handle conflict, and how you interpret what is going wrong when communication breaks down. For library leaders, these situations can be easy to misread. A staff member may seem disengaged when they are overloaded. A direct communication style may be mistaken for rudeness. Tension between coworkers may have less to do with attitude and more to do with differences in processing, sensory needs, or unstated expectations.

This course helps you look at those situations more clearly. You will explore common ways neurodivergence may shape workplace communication and team dynamics, and you will learn practical strategies for supporting employees while maintaining accountability and stronger working relationships. The emphasis is on management approaches that are useful in real library settings, especially when you are balancing staff needs, service demands, and limited time.

The course also makes space for self-reflection. For neurodivergent managers in particular, leadership is not only about supporting others. It is also about understanding your own communication patterns, stressors, strengths, and support needs. This session invites you to think about how your own brain affects the way you lead, so you can make more intentional decisions and build a more neuroinclusive workplace culture overall.

SESSIONS AND PRICING

Choose the session that works best for your schedule. Early bird pricing ends one month before the session deadline. Course materials unlock on the session deadline date.

GROUP OPTIONS

Training a team? Choose the setup that matches how you want to plan and pay:

Group course enrollment: Enroll 3+ staff in this course and save.

Bulk course credits: Prepay once, get the highest per-seat discount on every course, and assign seats later.

Unlimited annual licensing: System-wide access for a year with no per-course approvals.

Request Discounted Group Pricing

Questions? Email groupsales@libraryjournal.com.

COURSE FORMAT

This will be a live 2-hour online crash course and will include:

Live session: A guest speaker presentation focused on practical management strategies for supporting neurodivergent library staff. The session includes real examples, reflection, and applied guidance for library workplaces.

Facilitated discussion: Audience participation in Q&A and discussion with the presenter.

Online classroom: The virtual learning platform holds all course content and remains accessible for six months after the live session.

EXPECTED TIME COMMITMENT

If you attend or watch the recording of the live session, you will spend approximately 2 hours on this course. You will earn 2 hours of professional development credit and a Library Journal certificate of completion.

ON-DEMAND ACCESS

The live session is recorded and available on demand for six months following the initial broadcast as part of your purchase.

CERTIFICATE OF COMPLETION

Complete the course to earn 2 professional development credit hours and a Library Journal certificate of completion. Certificates are emailed upon completion.

ACCESSIBILITY

All video recordings feature auto-captioning. If you require accommodations, please email course-support@libraryjournal.com upon registration and we will make our best efforts to support your needs.

SUPPORT

For technical or course-related support, please contact course-support@libraryjournal.com.